The Modern Universe 1937

Editor: Here we have John Marin's watercolor and drawing, "The Modern Universe," created in 1937. I find it rather striking, mostly due to the very direct use of color to delineate the ocean and sky. The forms are simplified, the colors are intense... What do you make of this, especially considering its title? Curator: Modern Universe, eh? Right, well Marin always had a way of turning the familiar upside down with that almost childlike hand of his. Forget Da Vinci's perspective; Marin gives us feeling. Those blues? Not just ocean, my dear. They are moods. Gloom, grandeur, the restless modern soul trying to find its place on that strange beach. And notice that barely-there ship? Barely afloat, just a thin pencil sketch; hope on the horizon. You feel me? It's a feeling. A yearning for more... of what though? Editor: I see what you mean. There’s definitely a sense of seeking... like a visual quest for some unnameable ideal within nature itself. Does the abstraction enhance that feeling? Curator: Ah, precisely. Abstraction, you see, pulls you inward, asks you to complete the picture yourself. Marin isn’t showing you the ocean, but suggesting it – prompting your own ‘universe’ to respond to his. He felt the modern world – or yearned for its feeling to be something greater, better, deeper. Editor: I hadn't thought about it that way. I initially just saw the color palette and some simplified shapes. Curator: Precisely. The beauty of a journey. Editor: This makes me see the painting as so much more, a reflection of inner emotion rather than objective observation. Thanks. Curator: Any time, my dear. Let’s dive into another piece. Who knows what other oceans await us?